Health - The Durango Herald

Best reason to read? Book lovers live longer, scientists say

Good news book readers: A chapter a day might keep the Grim Reaper away – at least a little longer. A recent study by Yale University researchers, published online in the journal ...

DATE: Aug 15, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Studies shine light on mysterious placenta, how it goes awry

It nourishes fetus, acting as its lungs, kidneys and liver

DATE: Aug 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

UN bungles response to Africa’s yellow fever outbreak

KINSHASA, Congo – The World Health Organization and its partners shipped more than 6 million yellow fever vaccines to Angola in February to quash an emerging epidemic, yet when they asked co...

DATE: Aug 8, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Can house dust explain why Amish protected from asthma?

CHICAGO – Forget Fluffy and Fido. Bessie the cow just might make a healthier pet. That idea stems from new research in two farming-based religious communities that shun modern way...

DATE: Aug 5, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Scientists uncover genes affecting risk for depression

NEW YORK – In a key advance for the study of depression, a comprehensive scan of human DNA has turned up the apparent hiding places of more than a dozen genes linked to the disorder. ...

DATE: Aug 3, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Medical benefits of dental floss unproven

HOLMDEL, N.J. – It’s one of the most universal recommendations in all of public health: Floss daily to prevent gum disease and cavities. Except there’s little proof that flossing ...

DATE: Aug 2, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

45 million pounds of flour recalled

DES MOINES, Iowa – The most basic of baking ingredients, flour, is at the center of a complicated question: How did it become contaminated with bacteria normally found in animal feces? ...

DATE: Jul 31, 2016 | CATEGORY: Nation & World

Formula for physical activity: 8 hours of sitting means 1 hour of exercise

If you fear you’re doing irreparable damage to your body because your white-collar job keeps you sitting at your desk from 9 to 5, or you regularly spend entire weekends sprawled out on your...

DATE: Jul 28, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Jail’s medical contract cuts costs, increases coverage

A newly contracted team of medical personnel are expected to provide around-the-clock coverage and reduce costs for the La Plata County Jail. Southern Health Partners, a Tennessee...

DATE: Jul 28, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Severe birth defects not as lethal as doctors once said

CHICAGO – Parents of newborns with rare genetic conditions used to hear the grim words that the severe birth defects were “incompatible with life.” Support groups and social media showing th...

DATE: Jul 27, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Superbug resistant to antibiotics found again in U.S.

NEW YORK – A New York City patient was infected with bacteria that had a special type of resistance to antibiotics last year, the earliest known case in the U.S. of bacteria that could lead ...

DATE: Jul 18, 2016 | CATEGORY: Health

Icy sauna in Durango touted for pain relief

Cryotherapy uses nitrogen to lower skin temperature to 34 degrees

DATE: Jul 12, 2016 | CATEGORY: Local News

Photos: High County Cattle Auction

High Country Cattle Auction brings top-notch stock and country charm to Southwest ColoradoFamily run, generational business dates back to 1940s

BREEN – The family-owned and operated High Country Cattle Auction is “in the bones” of the Cugnini family, said third-generation owner Chris Cugnini. The business was founded by Chris’ grandfather, Pat Cugnini, in the 1940s. Pat then passed the business down to his son, Duane Cugnini, who then turned the business over to daughters, Becky Hawkins and Chris Cugnini, whose daughters plan to take over the family business one day. The auction, which takes place once or twice a month from April to January at 13062 La Plata Highway (Colorado Highway 140) near Breen, attracts ranchers, farmers and those in the cattle industry from far and wide.

Former Durango resident Steve Greenburg has been attending the High Country Cattle auction for more than 40 years, and continues to travel to Breen all the way from Arizona, where he now lives. He attended the September auction last week, where around 1,200 animals were up for sale. Greenburg said effective bidding takes concentration and a practiced hand. “You want to make sure you don’t pay too much,” he said. “And if you do, you want to buy the business.” Amber Belvin, employee of 15 years and Chris’ operations “sidekick,” said bidders are most often looking for signs of good health in an animal, like a plump, filled-out body. If bidding on a herd, a look of uniformity among the animals is key to a good purchase, she said.

Despite Greenburg already having a handful of filled out bidding cards marking the cattle he had won within an hour of the Sept. 23 auction, he said the day was young. One sale day last year culminated in Greenburg taking home 22 semi-trucks worth of cattle, he said. Chris said Greenburg is one of the auction’s longest-term and most generous supporters. “(Greenburg) pays top-dollar,” Chris said. “And (that) makes me feel good, because we’re giving back to (the sellers). I know these people around here, and they’re the hardest working people on the planet. If I can get them 10 or 20 cents more per pound, then that makes us happy.”

Cattle auction prices have gone up in recent years, both at High Country and nationally, Chris said. This year, animals are going for $2,500 to $3,000 a head – double and triple the average prices from last year. The increase, Chris said, is in part because of a screw worm making the rounds in cattle in Mexico, which has lowered the number of cattle coming in from the south, along with people subdividing and selling cattle branches, and local cattle herd numbers diminishing, which has increased demand.

Chris called the price increase “good and bad.” “It’s great if you’re a seller, because there’s prices that you’ve never seen before,” she said. “Older men come in, (and they) can’t believe the prices. Some of them do this for a living, and they count on that, so they’re so happy.” Belvin said some smaller farmers opt to buy less cattle during price surges like this, but echoed Chris’ sentiment about sellers being ecstatic about the unprecedented profit.

Local cattle farmer Lawrence Martinez entered 59 steers and 95 heifers in the auction Tuesday. Martinez has been involved in the High Country Cattle Auction “pretty much forever,” but recent years have been especially fruitful for sales, he said. “These last few years, we’ve been coming here to sell, because this is the place to go,” he said. “I wouldn’t sell anywhere else. (The market here has) been so good.”The auction’s community roots and generational touch doesn’t stop at the Cugnini family: Shane Hatch, the auctioneer, took over the job after his father’s death, Belvin said.

The auction serves as an opportunity for community members to get together and bond, Belvin said. “When we do have an auction, it’s a great place where local farmers and ranchers can get together and talk,” she said. “They come to the cafe, and they talk about the hay, and the drought situation, and I think it’s a good connecting point.” Chris and Belvin both expressed feeling glad the auction can supply so much generational value to the local farming and ranching community. “I mean, what other business can you think of around here that’s the same, right?” Belvin said. “We’re fair, and we’re very meticulous at our jobs. We take it very seriously, because this is (some peoples’) livelihood.”

For the Cugninis – and long-term employees like Belvin, who have become an honorary part of the close-knit High Country Cattle Auction family – the heart of the business aligns with the heart of the local farming and ranching community. “We’re just good, hard working people – Americans – that want to make a good living, and live off this great land,” Belvin said. epond@durangoherald.com

Family run, generational business dates back to 1940s